In an interview with the German publication “Die Welt,” released on December 24th, the Swedish swim star few spoke about her son and her plans to attend her sixth Olympic Games this year in Rio. The 38 year old swimmer, who had her first important international appearance at the World Championships in 1994, gave birth to her first child, Fred, in June 2013. Despite a baby break, Therese plans to swim for Sweden in Rio at the 2016 Olympic games – possibly her sixth games.
During the last few years, the meaning of swimming has changed for her. “I never really enjoyed training in former times – now I have more fun than ever before. I already knew after the Olympic Games in London that I’am not done with competitive swimming,” she told “Die Welt” during the interview. It seems that she is relaxed and felt good in her own skin. Obviously she is able to balance her life between family and high-performance sport. She thinks she is able to manage it all because her son Fred (18 months old) is a very uncomplicated young man and also his father, her life partner and coach Johan Wallberg supports her a lot.
Therese added that in her mind the new situation with having a son is relaxing for their relationship because in former times swimming was their most important common theme and she sometimes missed different aspects of her life. Her son helps her get the right balance – after practice she plays with him and doesn’t think about swimming. On the other hand, the time in the water is her own comfort time and also a kind of meditation. She enjoys having this time. From the athletic aspect, she sees herself on the right path – but it was hard and took more than nine months to get into shape after pregnancy.
Therese Alshammer won 69 medals at Olympic Games, World and European Championships – 37 were Gold medals. She is the current World Record holder in the 50 m butterfly (short course, 24,38 seconds). In the interview with “Die Welt” Therese announced that she plans to train in the USA in January 2016 – with the team of SwimMAC Carolina in Charlotte, North Carolina, with SwimMAC’s Head Coach David Marsh. She will join the pool with a very popular squad of Olympians and Olympic and World Champions like Ryan Lochte, Tyler Clary and on the women’s side Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (Bahamas), Micah Lawrence and Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe). Additionally, international swimstars like Hungarian’s World Champion Laszlo Cseh trained in Charlotte for some weeks or months.
SwimSwam reported in November about Alshammar’s plans to train for approximately three weeks in Charlotte. David Marsh tells SwimSwam, “I’ve gotten to know Therese Alshammar over the years at the Mare Nostrum tour (the best professional meet series out there). She is a delightful person, a mother, a wife and a former Cornhusker.”
Alshammar’s biggest successes in the pool are her three Olmypic Medals she won at the 2000 Games in Sydney: Two silver medals in the 50 m and 100 m freestyle and a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 m freestyle relay.
The next months will show if Therese will be able to join the illustrious circle of athletes who have been able to compete in six Olympic Games.
But besides this goal she said in the interview with “Die Welt” with reference to her little son:”Because no matter how I swim: I have something wonderful in my life. Something that is more valuable than anything else.”
Here is the German interview with “Die Welt” on 12/24/2015:
http://www.welt.de/sport/article149892261/Mein-Sohn-bringt-mich-in-die-richtige-Balance.html
Here you can find the swimswam report:
